Vicky Jurczok and Anika Lorenz have made a strong start to the post-Olympic season: The Berliners won silver at the World Cup regatta off Hyères, after finishing third in the medal final they were only beaten by the Brazilian Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, but were able to confidently prevail against the British Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey. With a total of four daily victories in 13 races, three of them in just one day (!), the crew from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club were in impressive form. "It was windy today. We had fun out there. This is our first World Cup medal! We are happy!" said foresailor Anika Lorenz.
After a somewhat weaker first day of the regatta, the Olympic ninth-placed team got into their stride off Hyères. "Good starts and good speed were our keys to success here," said 27-year-old helmswoman Vicky Jurczok, who is known as "Püppi" in sailing circles due to her petite figure. This was the German duo's second podium finish of the year after winning gold at the Trofeo Princesa Sofía at the end of March. "The winter break has done us good, we feel very fresh," said Jurczok, whose team is training with experienced coach Dave Evans this season.
The German 49er sailors, on the other hand, missed out on the final. Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel gradually got into their stride during their World Cup comeback nine months after their last outing in Rio de Janeiro, where they won bronze at the Olympic Games. However, despite a very conciliatory victory on the day, it was no longer enough for the eleventh-placed team to make it into the medal race. "It was cool to finally be able to race again," said foreskipper Thomas Plößel, "we were fit and made good decisions. We just lacked a bit of boat feeling. We weren't able to make our boat fast enough in crucial phases. We have some homework to do." Tim Fischer (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) and Fabian Graf (Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee) fought their way to 14th place with some impressive results and coach Max Groy. Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger from Segel- und Ruderclub Simssee, who had won the opening race off Hyères, finished the series in 20th place.
The second World Cup regatta of the season continues on Sunday with the last final races. After strong fluctuations in results this week, Laser helmsman Philipp Buhl qualified for the final in seventh place with a successful final spurt and 6th and 4th places. In doing so, he pushed the bronze medallist from Rio, Sam Meech from New Zealand, into tenth place. Silver medallist Tonci Stipanovic missed out on a place in the final in eleventh. Olympic champion Tom Burton will start the medal race on Sunday in fifth place overall after ten races. The Italian Francesco Marrai is in the lead.
Buhl's coach Alex Schlonski said in France: "Philipp did particularly well today. He got off to a very good start in relatively constant winds of around 15 to 16 knots. He had great speed and didn't take too many risks." Buhl was also more satisfied than in previous days: "The races today were more fun than the ones in which the luck factor was a bit high in the extremely shifty winds. Today we had premium conditions with sunshine, a nice wave and three to four Beaufort onshore. It was very important to me to get back to the top group. That went well."
While the German 470 women Frederike Loewe and Anna Markfort from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club also qualified for the medal race on Sunday in ninth place, Matti Winkel and Matti Cypra from the Plauer Wassersportverein shared the fate of Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel: they narrowly missed out on a place in the final in eleventh place. Laser Radial helmswoman Svenja Weger made an optimistic return to the World Cup scene after her shoulder operation and long injury break, finishing fourteenth.
Here go to the results
